Tuesday, May 03, 2016

My job search is going much better in my dreams than in real life. I've had two very vivid dreams about jobs now, one a few days ago and one early this morning after a restless night of almost no sleep.

In the first one I got contacted via a friend online who suggested me for an editing job. I wasn't sure I could do it, but when the work arrived it was lovely and interesting and I found myself engaged and enjoying it. Frustratingly, I cannot remember what the work actually was, just my reaction to it. The pay was enough, not great, but enough to get by. I was happy. It was a good dream and I was annoyed to wake up.

The second one, this morning, was more odd. I was at a local business run by people I like, who only existed in the dream, and was about to ask them for a job when I found myself telling them I was going to start a comic shop in town, since the nearest one is 40 miles away. They were encouraging, but recommended I start slow. I explained that I planned to find comic book fans who need a source for their favorite books and set up an ordering service, with me making deliveries every week. If it took off, then I would open a "shop" at my house once a week with some back issues and extra issues and people could come and check things out. If that went extremely well, then I'd think of renting a location and all that jazz.

The friends in my dream were supportive, but as I woke up I thought about all the potential problems with the scheme and ... well, I'm not sure it would work, frankly. I'd have to find some minimum number of fans to make up the minimum order from Diamond, then I'd have to make sure everyone was on board with prepaying, which is hard to understand if you aren't a hardcore fan. Then there's shipping costs from Diamond and delivery costs for me. It's an attractive idea, but I somehow doubt I could make enough at it to make it worth the effort. I know someone I can ask about the base costs, though, so I might check anyway, just to banish it from my head.

In the real world, I've sent away writing samples and query letters to several places and haven't gotten responses yet. I'm beginning to think I need to find someone at one of these places I'm interested in and get them to introduce me. I don't really know how to job hunt.